The Mystery of a Hansom Cab

Rating:
Summary: The Mystery Of A Hansom Cab
Review: I bought it awhile back, stowed it, and now have just finished reading it at last--all because of its quiet standing as the first internationally successful mystery novel.

Guess what? It's a hit! Okay, okay, it was a hit. A long time ago. Now it's obscure, neglected, forgotten, and occasionally the victim of disparaging remarks. But to my mind, this dusty classic from 1887 contains all the elements that tend to get grouped together to form a successful whodunit, nicely sorted and stylized, carried off with a light touch that turns into a firm grip on the reader, long before most of your favourite mysteries ever came to be. Courtroom theatrics, police-procedure in the form of rival detectives both convinced they are following the right leads, reliable eyewitnesses versus unreliable eyewitnesses, a precarious pile of circumstantial evidence against one man, a lawyer seeking the truth to clear a client, young lovers trying to avoid scandal as the result of the dastardly murder--all this plus some high-handed melodrama, at which you can either gasp or groan. This is no dry, creaky read from yestergone, that should be avoided. Work your way past a few over-the-top crescendos towards a rather clever turnabout in the very end, and you are likely to be as happy with this one as was I.

And it takes place in 19th-century Aussieland, too! Come visit the backstreets of poverty-ridden Melbourne, in the Victorian era, and get some social commentary, and many quick comments on the differences in the sexes as perceived (sometimes horrendously), by the author. Plus, did I mention the mystery is fun? I did? Then it's a hit, I say! Was a hit.